Fri, Jul 7 2006, Sat, Jul 8 2006, Sun, Jul 9 2006 - Waterton Scrambling Weekend (View Original Event Details)
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The write up is a bit long but so was our weekend!
Statistics from our Waterton scrambling weekend:
Kilometres hiked: 58
Elevation gained: In excess of 4200 metres
Hours spent scrambling: 27
Peaks/ridges reached: Mounts Crandell, Blakiston, Hawkins, Lineham, Forum Peak and Akimina Ridge
Bears on the trail: Two
Mount Crandell:
Blanka, Phil and I got a head start on the weekend by leaving Calgary Thursday night. Friday morning, we headed for Mount Crandell for a scramble up the Bears Hump route. We briskly followed the trail from the visitor centre to the Bears Hump lookout. From there, we headed up the ridge toward the summit of Mount Crandell. Following game trails, we traversed left only to end up beneath cliffs several hundred feet tall. Realizing we likely headed left earlier than we should, we back-tracked and began to head up again. The Bears Hump route is a difficult scramble with much route finding and selection required. Gaining elevation required some pretty serious scrambling in a few places. We eventually made it to a narrow, exposed ridge and considered using it to reach the summit but after traveling along it for a short distance, I came upon an exposed downclimb which, under calm conditions, would have been possible but with Waterton’s famous wind blowing strong, it seemed a little too dangerous to attempt. So we again back-tracked to the start of the ridge, lost elevation and traversed below it to a point beyond the downclimb. Gaining the ridge again required another steep climb up a narrow, shale notch. After this point, it was pretty much smooth sailing the rest of the way to the summit. Apart from the telecom equipment at the summit, the views were impressive taking in all of the Waterton Lakes as well as surrounding peaks. From the summit, we followed an open ridge to a drainage where we rock-hopped down to level ground behind the warden’s compound. From there it was a short walk along the road back to our car. At 7:45 hours, it took us a bit longer than expected but it was an excellent scramble to start the weekend.
Hawkins Horseshoe (Mounts Blakiston, Hawkins and Lineham):
Saturday was our big day. Blanka, Phil and I were joined by Parry, Ian and Mitko who arrived Friday evening. We were going to attempt Hawkins Horseshoe and bag three summits along the way. The trip started with a hike up the Lineham Trail to a dry avalanche slope beneath Mount Blakiston. At 2910 metres, it’s Waterton tallest mountain. We followed the avalanche slope up through rock bands where we spread out a bit picking various lines that suited our various comfort levels. Mitko and Ian decided heading straight up to a ridge was the way to go while the rest of went for the cliffs below the summit. Ultimately we met up and headed through the cliffs and made our way to the summit. After a short fly infested stay atop Blakiston we started our descent to the ridge which would lead us to Mount Hawkins. Traversing this ridge required some scrambling but the worst of it (or best depending on your perspective) was behind us. We took another break when we reached the peak of Mount Hawkins and surveyed the rest of the route to our final peak of the day, Mount Lineham. It looked much easier technically speaking than what we had already done but we were in for a good amount of up and down travel along the way. After dropping off the summit of Hawkins and rounding the bend toward Lineham, we were met by 12 mountain goats who showed off their incredible mountain skills as they fled down impossibly steep slopes beneath us. After admiring the goats we continued on the way toward Lineham. At about the 9.5 hour mark, we hit the summit of Mount Lineham. Very satisfied with our accomplishment, we relaxed a while taking in the sites from our lofty vantage point. The most impressive view was back to our first peak of the day. From Lineham, Blakiston looks ridiculously steep. Still around two hours from our cars, we reluctantly left the summit and headed down toward the Rowe Lakes trail. Perhaps as a reward for our scrambling efforts, we were treated to one of the best scree runs any of us had ever experienced. Think Yamnuska but at least twice as long. There was about 50 metres of thick bush whacking at the bottom of the scree but after that, it was a nice hike down the Rowe Lakes trail back to the road. Unfortunately, our cars were at the Lineham Creek trail head a little more than a kilometre away. In total, we gained around 2000 metres of elevation, hiked 24.5 kilometres and were on the trail for just under 12 hours.
Akimina Ridge:
After Saturday’s epic and Friday’s trip for half of us, we weren’t done yet. Sunday morning, after packing up our camp sites, we headed for Akimina Ridge. The trip would start in Waterton, but would actually cross over into British Columbia where the bulk of the hike would take place. Along the path, we came across two black bears on the trail. We gave them time and space, huddled into a tight group of six, readied our bear spray and made a ton of noise before passing through the area where they were seen. They had disappeared into the forest though and would not been seen again, at least by us. The scramble is described as easy with one moderate step to gain the ridge. The moderate step turned out to be pretty involved but I don’t think any of us were looking for the easiest route up. We gained the ridge near the largest cairn I had ever seen. A short distance away and slightly higher was another gigantic cairn. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this cairn marked the top of Forum Peak. We were getting so good at bagging peaks this weekend, we did one without noticing. We were nowhere near the high point of the day though so after a short break, we continued along our way. Once we finally reached the highpoint of the ridge we lounged for a pretty long time eating, playing name that peak and finally lying back and resting for some time under the hot afternoon sun. The views from Akimina Ridge are among the most beautiful I’ve seen and if you’re not a scrambler, you can avoid the scramble to the ridge by going up the right side of Forum Lake instead. After our long break at the top, we decided it was time to start down so we continued along the ridge to the trail leading down to Wall Lake. Once we finally reached the lake, it was simply too inviting for Parry, Phil and I. So in various states of undress, we dove right in. The snow running into the back of the lake didn’t deter us. We weren’t in there long, but it was the most refreshing dip I’ve taken in a long time. After that, it was a remarkably quick trudge back down the Akimina Pass trail to our cars.
Bottom line, it was an exhausting but incredible weekend with a great group of people I won’t soon forget.
Mike